Tampons for feminine hygiene are typically made from fibers that have been compressed, in some manner, into a substantially cylindrical form. These fibers can have a tendency to re-expand to their original dimensions after a compression step, unless the fibers are stabilized in the compressed state. Generally, tampons are stabilized by either conductive heating or microwave heating.
Conductive heating methods typically do not uniformly stabilize the tampon and can result in the alteration of absorbent qualities in the outer layer of the tampon, as the outside of the tampon can dry more quickly than the inside. Conductive heating methods can also be time and energy intensive, as the air within the tampon must be heated, to dry the fibers via conduction from outside the tampon to the inside. Furthermore, high temperatures that could decrease cycle times cannot be utilized in conductive heating methods. The high temperatures may be above the melting point of portions of the tampon, such as the overwrap, which can result in a melted product.
While microwave heating can be a faster method of stabilizing tampons than conductive heating, only a small fraction of the outputted energy used in microwave heating is actually utilized to stabilize the tampon. As a result of this inefficiency, the energy costs of this method are relatively high.
As such, it would be desirable to provide a method for stabilizing tampons, by drying them that can reduce energy utilization. It would also be desirable to provide a method of drying tampons that can provide increased speed of tampon production.